Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-16
CHAPTER XII.-SlR PERclvAL

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the door behind him.
CHAPTER XII.-SIR PERClvAL.
Yes" said the clerk in the Secretary
office "The man is here. You will fine
him within. He arrived in the liillinl
Bride, of Quebec, three months out, ant
he's madden than ever. Three prayer
meetings he's held already, and he's at il
again. l wonder how they stand it 81
well. You can go in if you want"
The place was in the Sailors Home
Dock street. Paul passed through shor'
passage and found himself in a large, low
room, set with solid square timber pillars
to shore up the roof; tables of heavy
and solid kind were set about, and benches
stood beside them. 1t was the common
room of the Sailors Home, where they
take their meals and sit and converse. II
you 90 through the common room you
find yourself in a place which reminds
you of a ship and monastery, and OF
those solitares who lived in caves, hi III
up in the sides of cliffs and precipices, and
you turn dizzy and reel For there are
rows of little cells or cabins, in every one
a sailor, piled one above the other, and, in
front of each row, gallery in light iron,
with iron staircases, the sight of " hich
makes you think of falling over or
through.
The common room, this morning, was
thinly attended. A lusty negro, coal
black, rolled about, and, on one of the
benches, pipe in mouth, two or three mild
faced Norwegians sat with the newspaper
of their native country in their hands; a
dozen fellows loun ged and leaned against
the pillars with crossed legs, doing moth
ing with the contentment only possible
with sailers and fishermen; one or two
men were writing, one or two smoking
pipes there was smell rs of tween
decks one thought OF the fox sic; tar
was present, and one thought of ropes :;
if the men had lurched and pitched as
they went one would not have been sur
prised.
In the middle Of this room, however,
surrounded by a little group of sailors,
chiefly young, was young man sitting in
a chair-talking and arguing. In reality
ne was preaching, but 1t seemed as If he
was merely talking earnestly from his
chair, while they gathered round and lis
tened. But from time to time he sprang
to his feet and raised his voice, and adj
dressed them in impaSslUned tones, which
were surely those of the preacher. And
he used a certain gesture which has OF
late become fashionable among orators
of the fervid type. think it Is an Ameri-
can importation, made, like all American
things for the purpose of impreSslng
Demos. For my own part prefer the old
English gestures used tor lmpreSslng per
sons who possess the critical faculty, just
as | prefer English cheeses, English
bacon, English apples to the American i'm
portatlons This gesture consists i'll throw
ing the right arm up and back, and then
hurting the hand, SO to speak, at the audi
ence. 1t is easily learned, and may be ac-
quired by half an hours practice before
glass when man is really and truly in
earnest, and possesses the gift of impas
stoned speech, 1t helps him to become eff
fectiVe; when a man only wishes to seem
in earnest, and therefore shows the pre-
teuce in his words, the gesture is gro
tesque, aud destroys what effect his ora
tory might Otherwise produce. Demos is
no tool above all, he Is ready TO detect
man who is not really III earnest. That is
the reason why so many leaders disappear
early, and why so much vigorous speech
Is thrown away and wasted.
Paul drew near and sat down to listen.
The speaker was dressed as a common
sailor; his face was weather beaten, but
the features were regular; his hands We're
tarry, but they We're small his figure was
tall and graceful his short hair Was dark ;
he spoke like a gentleman, and he looked
above the rank OF common sailor. HIS
eyes were remarka Die for their bright and
even fiery appearance in the low dark
room they glowed They were the ewes
of a fanatic or Il mailman. Once | saw
crouchng in "A corner of a darkened cell
a mailman who had killed II warder. He
was perfectly quiet, but his eyes were two
balls of fire and he was ready to spring
mn hn fret wi
within the cell Such were the eyes of
this young sailor.
1t was apparent Immediately from his
words that he belonged to the narrowest
order of Christians. We who live in
great towns and choose our own religion,
and sometimes choose broader form of
Christianity, permit ourselves to deride
the narrow brethren; We should not de
ride them. They belong to very big
school indeed There are ten millions of
them in England, four millions in Scot
land, two in Ireland, three in Colonial
Britain and thirty million in America,
who belong TO this school. 1t is not
therefore, by any means extinct. Nor
will il ever become extinct so long AS men
who are unlearned claim to exercise the
right of private Interpretation. And 1t
will always be narrow school, although
its disciples hold all kinds of conclusions
and divide themselves into as many sects
as there are sauces in France. The argu-
ments of this school are based upon pre-
misses which the wicked nationalist will
not allow its followers know nothing of
the Science of Religion or of the develop.
ment OF the great central idea the school
is rs cruel and pitiless rs the Letter of the
Law it is selfsufiicient and arrogant.
We may say all kinds of harsh things as
regards this school, but those who remem-
Der how terrible tyranny is Authority,
how truly hateful thing il Ecclesiasti'
cal Rule, and how monstrous a being is
the Priest IN Power will take heart
though dozen new sects are invented
every day. and will continue to praise the
Lord that such thinkers are enabled to
exist at all.
Paul had been brought up in this school
himself. He knew all the tags and the
DhraseS of the school If he uUaa avar 10